| NO DEMANDS YET FROM PIRATES,
SAYS PHILIPPINE AMBASSADOR
KUALA LUMPUR, April 25
(Bernama) -- The armed pirates who took 20 people hostage on Sipadan island off the Sabah
coast last Sunday night have not made any demands yet to the authorities, indicating that
contact have yet to be made by either side.
Philippine ambassador to Malaysia Jose Brillantes said today the crucial thing now was to
hear from the "abductors".
"They have been quite silent so far," he said when contacted by Bernama here.
Brillantes said the reason behind the group's action was "not clear yet".
"We cannot discount the fact of them coming out with demands," he said.
He said their motives could be related to piracy or something else.
On the rescue operation mounted by the Philippine and Malaysian authorities, Brillantes
said "some contingent moves" have already been made.
"I am quite sure that they are on top of things," he said, without elaborating.
Brillantes said he had received reports from Manila that President Joseph Estrada has
ordered the Philippine armed forces to cooperate with the Malaysian authorities in search
of the hostages.
He said the two countries have also activated border patrols. Yesterday, Defence Minister
Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the location of the 20 hostages had been identified.
In the Sunday incident, six pirates, armed with AK47 assault machine guns and a bazooka
launcher, took nine Malaysians and 11 foreigners hostage.
According to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai, the kidnappers, believed to
be foreigners, fled with the hostages in a 'jongkong' boat belonging to them and another
boat seized from the resort centre, towards Philippine waters.
Norian said the armed men raided the police base on the island before capturing the
hostages at 7.30pm. He confirmed the nationalities of the 11 foreigners among the hostages
-- three Germans, two South Africans, two French nationals, two Finns, one Lebanese, all
tourists, and one Filipino who was working on the island.
The nine Malaysians taken hostage comprise four workers of the Wildlife Department, three
workers of the Sipadan resort centre, a policeman and a staff of Syarikat Borneo Divers.
The international waters bordering Sabah, Southern Philippines and Eastern Indonesia are
pirate-infested with several incidents reported in the last few years.
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